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Mahou Sensei Negima, Magical Teacher Negima, one of my favorite manga has come to an end. I just read the last chapter yesterday, I have to say it was a pretty good ending.

MSN(Mahou Sensei Negima) is a shonen manga that is now complete at 355 chapters. The series is drawn and written by Akamatsu Ken. Before MSN he wrote a manga called Love Hina which was one of the first complete manga I read and fell in love with.

MSN is about a young boy named Negi Springfield, who at the age of 10 who is a genius and a graduate of the magical academy in Wales. Magic is a secret from the rest of the world and is used behind the scenes to help people. Upon graduating he is given a post in a Japanese school to teach English. He arrives at the school, and of course there is confusion to him being a kid teacher.

Negi is smart and a hard worker though and gets… some control of the 31 girls in his class. The manga follows his adventures with his students in all sort of problems and hijinks, eventually leading up to a time when the whole world is in danger and it is up to them to save it. Needless to say more and more students get in on the magic secret.

The manga is magical fighting action; harem, as his students fall for him; and ecchi, as he sneezes and accidentally blows off his students clothes. I love the drawing style, and the writing is funny and meaningful. There are good characters and more come in later.

As for the ending, I liked it, except I was very unsatisfied by no romantic resolve for Negi. Love Hina was a harem manga too, and had a very strong romantic ending, I wish it had been more like that. Though the way he ended it was solid, but I think I would have appreciated it more if I knew more of the characters. I took a long break from it once and forgot who a lot of people were. I think I’m going to read it all over now.

Well I can’t wait to see Akamatsu Ken’s next work. Below is Negi’s class roster.

The World God Only Know(TWGOK) is one of my favorite mangas. Though it’s an anime now as well. It has great characters, a great story, is well drawn and exciting to read. The manga is about a high School boy, Keima Katsuragi. Keima is a master of dating women. There is no scenario he does not know, and no woman he has set his eyes on yet he could not ensnare into his web….virtual web. He is the master of dating sims, a god of capturing 2D girls. He has no need for the real world, or real girls.

Yet his identity is mistaken, much in the way you were probably fooled by my intro of him. Keima one day opens an email that asks if he is really the god of capturing women, and if he is up for an ultimate challenge. Of course he opens it, and suddenly a cute demon pops out in front of him named Elsie. Elsie explains to him some very confusing stuff. Evil souls have escaped from Hell, she and other demons were sent out to recover them. They need to use a human partner to help them. The souls hide away in human hearts, to force them out they must fill the humans heart with a strong emotion. The demons enlist Keima, the capturing god, to help.

Keima frantically explains he deals with 2D women only, but it’s too late, the contract has been made. If he rescinds he will lose his life. Keima resigns himself to the fact he is stuck like this, and the only way to be free is the capture all the spirits. He must apply his gaming knowledge to the real world, and make countless women fall in love with him to force the spirits out.

The rest of the manga is Keima working with Elsie to woo women into falling deeply in love with him to force the spirit out. Each arc is a new and different woman to capture. Luckily after he succeeds they lose their memories of the capture. Otherwise he would just be seen as some two-timing jerk. Keima is highly intelligent and analytic in everything he does. He is one of my favorite characters in any manga. He always knows what’s what and has a plan.

Elsie is able to tell which girls have spirits inside them, and she acts as support to the conquest. Helping to create the right atmosphere, or transporting him about. She does the actual capturing when the spirit is forced out too. Elsie is pretty dim, she’s a classic girly cute character that is clumsy and moe. Their dynamic works well together.

The Manga is in it’s 179th chapter, and seems to be nearing an end. As the conquests went on a few bigger stories and plots started to form. It’s getting very exciting. I recommend the manga to any romance fans, or comedy fans, or intellectual types. (If anyone wants anymore info or to discuss it in great detail I have a friend who is quite the expert).

Keima and Elsie are in the foreground, the background girls are various conquests.

I do enjoy anime but I also enjoy regular American TV just as much. I also enjoy subbed anime most, so I always watch American TV when I clean up the house, do the dishes, etc. etc.

I always keep running out of new shows to watch, I go through them too fast. So as usual I browsed through netflix instant this morning to find a new show. I went with The Dresden Files. It’s a fantasy show that aired for one season in 2007. I’ve watched a few episodes, liking it so far. It’s hard to find good sci-fi/fantasy live action shows. A lot can be too corny or not done well.

That’s why Anime really lends itself to the sci-fi fantasy format. It’s a lot easier to make cool looking monsters and magic effects in an animated medium and make them look good and authentic to the show than in live action. Especially TV shows, regular shows don’t have the budget of Avatar. Shows can’t be too ambitious in sepcial effects, but that’s what really makes or breaks sci-fi fantasy, the authenticity.

The Dresden Files is about a fairly down in the dumps wizard in Chicago who helps various clients fighting ghosts and demons. The acting is pretty good, and the effects and stories are good. It’s only 12 episodes though, so I’ll probably be through with them in a day or two.